Holiday tips from our Seller Advisory Panel

By golly, be jolly! It's the holidays, and the experienced sellers on our Seller Advisory Panel have kindly shared their tips to promote sales and goodwill at Bonanza.

Are you ready? Great! Let's start with Tom, who has been selling on Bonanza since 2008.

Tom at ShopperLane Surplus & Resale

Consider using Bonanza's TurboTraffic (TT) advertising feature to increase your holiday sales. As Bonanza indicates, "TurboTraffic increases your advertising bids, boosts visibility on Google Shopping, and drives more shoppers to your items each day. Many sellers using TurboTraffic see their traffic and sales double or triple." I use it during the holiday season on select items (usually holiday related, or items that tend to sell well during the holidays) to increase advertising views. Choosing the items that I want to advertise allows me to focus my advertising dollars on items that are higher in demand during that period. Also, I can choose between advertising levels to get maximum views during a shorter period of time (spending my dollars quickly) or I can spread out my advertising over a longer period to get the maximum value for my dollars. The best part is that when TT sales occur, some of those Bonanza final value fees get put back into your TT balance and results in even more advertising exposure. In my opinion, investing in TT around the beginning of November and allowing it to run through the end of the year could significantly increase your sales. For best results, check your new traffic views every day (on your TT advertising page) and make any adjustments in your TT advertising levels as you see fit. You can also adjust the items you want to "boost". Of course, TurboTraffic works best when your items are priced competitively and you have clear, concise descriptions with fair shipping charges. With a fair selling price plus the extra views, you could see a significant boost in your traffic and sales. 

Sharon at Virtual Mama's Place

What has worked and still works for me about selling during the Holidays is:

1.     Always provide free shipping on everything except for really big or heavy items 
2.     I always give a gift with every purchase
3.     Markdowns
4.     Coupons
5.     Promotions

Suzanne at My Mom's Books

I do not do things differently for the holidays, I just accelerate what I do regularly. I share socially first thing in the morning with coffee and at night during TV time like always.

Ship in a timely manner to compensate for any shipping delays by the postal carrier. Have supplies ready.

1. Be sure to use Bonanza's feature to sync with other sites. It is a great tool for inventory control that saves time.
2. Keep listing new items to keep your booth fresh
3. I love to run sales by setting up coupons on Bonanza, so easy. Who doesn't love a sale?
4. I do my own shopping early and don't focus on home decorating, baking and wrapping until selling slows down and Christmas delivery isn't possible.

Matt at Motoring312

Shipping and packing your orders carefully is of the utmost importance during the holiday season, especially as we get into December and the weeks leading up to the Christmas holiday.

1.  Make sure you are setting proper expectations for your customers in terms of shipping times. All of the carriers, especially the US Postal Service, experienced severe delays last holiday season and you can expect that to be the case once again this year. Accurate shipping times might be the difference between a customer receiving their package before Christmas or not receiving it until after (resulting in a possible return or unfavorable feedback on your account).
2. The carriers always temporarily raise prices during the holiday season. You want to make sure you are accounting for these pricing changes in the price of your item (if you offer free shipping) or in the shipping price you charge for a particular order. Reducing the size or weight of your packaging, if possible, can help you work around the pricing increases. Finally, if you use the US Postal Service to ship your orders, make sure you are using end of day scan sheets. For one, the counter people at your local post office will love you for it since they won't have to scan 50 different packages (which during the holiday season, they normally just won't do it due to the volume they are dealing with). It will also reduce stress for your buyers as they will know the package has actually been mailed.

Barbara from MardiGrasMasksBeads

I think it is very important that your customer is not disappointed. In thinking about customer service and shipping, I let buyers know if they are not likely to get the item in time for the holiday. Some buyers don't answer, but some will thank you so they can find it locally instead. That's one buyer who won't be mad at you or the venue because they did not get delivery of their order before the holiday!

Thanks to our Seller Advisory Panel for taking a moment from the hustle and bustle of the holidays to share these timely tips with us!